Program control device



Jan. 7, 1969 O T. w. BANNON, JR 3,420,970 PROGRAM CONTROL DEVICE Filed July 20. 1966 INVENTOR 77/0 M: W. fimwvo Je ATTORNEY United States Patent 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A program control for laundry machines including a housing having a mounting plate for cantileverly supporting a cylindrical drum with circumferential grooves therein. Switch means adjacent the drum and having switch fingers extending therefrom whereby rotation of the drum causes the fingers to enter the grooves to operate the switch means.

The present invention relates to a multiple station program control device for laundry machines, and more particularly to such a control device having a cylindrical drum with cam tracks thereon and the mounting of the drum upon a rotatable shaft.

The operation of many different kinds of apparatus is controlled by a program control device. Such a device starts and stops the various cycles of operation of the apparatus according to a predetermined sequence or in response to varying conditions. Such devices are essentially electrical timing mechanisms and have been particularly used in many forms of laundry machines including washerextractors, automatic washing machines, and clothes dryers.

One form of such a program control device comprises a rotating drum which has cam grooves thereon and is mechanically connected to a plurality of switches which are actuated by the cams on the drum. The drum is mounted on a shaft, both ends of which are journaled in a housing or frame with a timer being operatively connected to the shaft. Such a mounting of the drum is disadvantageous in that it it difiicult to remove the shaft and the drum for repair purposes and it is virtually impossible to modify such a drum in order to increase or decrease the cam grooves thereon. Furthermore, the necessity for journaling both ends of the shaft requires additional structure. As a result, it is difficult to decrease the size of such a program control device so as to result in a more compact and simplified structure.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved program control device for laundry machines.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a simplified structure for a multiple station program control device having a rotatable cylinder to actuate a plurality of switches.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple yet effective arrangement for the mounting of the rotatable drum upon a shaft in a program control device.

In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multiple station program control device which is particularly adapted for laundry machines and the like. In this device there is a vertically disposed mounting plate and a shaft having one end journaled in the mounting plate with the other end extending outwardly therefrom. A timer motor means is operatively connected to the journaled end of the shaft to rotate the same. A cylindrical drum, which has a plurality of axially spaced, circumferentially extending cam tracks on its surface, is mounted upon the free portion of the shaft. The cam tracks register with corresponding cam elements carried on the operating Patented Jan. 7, 1969 "ice members of a plurality of switches so that rotation of the drum will actuate the switches.

One form of construction which may be employed for the cylindrical drum comprises a plurality of stacked disks having portions of different diameters so as to provide a plurality of axially spaced, circumferentially extending grooves. A thin sheet surrounds the drum and has circumferentially extending slots thereon which are aligned with the drum grooves so as to form cam tracks. Other types of construction can be used.

The cylindrical drum of the program control device of the present invention has what may be described as a cantilever construction since only one end of the shaft is supported and the other end of the shaft is free.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent upon reference to the accompanying description and drawing which are merely exemplary.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of an automatic washing machine incorporating the controller of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the housing for the program control device with a wall of the housing being cut away to show the journaled end of the drum;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and showing the journaling of the shaft in a mounting plate; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of an alternate form of the disks.

Proceeding next to the drawing wherein like reference symbols indicate the same parts throughout the various views, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

As may be seen in FIGS. 1 through 3, the controller of the present invention, which is indicated generally at 10, is mounted within a housing 11 provided with removable cover plate 12 to permit access to the controller within the housing. The cover plate 12 may be snap fitted over the housing in a known manner.

Within the housing there are provided upper and lower angle brackets 13 and 14, respectively, which are secured to the top and bottom walls 15 and 16, respectively, of the housing. Mounted to the angle brackets 13 and 14 by suitable fastening means such as nuts and bolts is a vertically disposed mounting plate 17 upon which the program control device of the present invention is mounted. The mounting plate 17 is provided with an opening 18 in which is fitted a bushing 19. Journaled within the bushing 19 is one end 20 of a shaft 21. The end 20 may be of a slightly greater diameter than the remaining portion of the shaft. The end 20 of the shaft is connected through an auxiliary shaft 22 to a timer motor 23 which is connected to a suitable source of electrical energy, not shown. The timer motor may be a conventional synchronous motor.

Mounted on shaft 21 in a cylindrical drum 24 comprising a plurality of alternate disks of two different diameters 25 and 26 to form a plurality of axially spaced, circumferentially extending grooves 27. The outer periphcry of the drum 24 is covered with a thin sheet of plastic 28, such as that sold under the trademark Mylar, which is secured to the drum by a suitable adhesive. The sheet 28 is of a continuous form and adapted to fit snugly about the outer periphery of the drum 24. The sheet 28 has a plurality of circumferentially extending, elongated slots 29 therein of a length representing the duration of functions occasioned by the closing of a corresponding switch in a manner to be presently described. The slots 29 are positioned to register with the circumferentially extending grooves 27 formed in the drum.

As an alternate structure for the drum 24, the drum may comprise a solid cylinder whose peripheral surface 3 has been grooved or may comprise a plurality of unitary disks having two diameters such as seen in FIG. 4. In the latter arrangement, the portion 26A corresponds to disk 26 and portion 25A to disk 25.

Extending outwardly from the mounting plate 17 above the drum'24 is a pair of parallel spaced rods 30 and 31 as may be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. Rods 30 and 31 support a plurality of switches 32 in spaced relation with thin sheets of insulating material 33 between adjacent switches. Each switch has a switch finger 34 which extends downwardly toward the drum 24, with each lever having a cam element 35 on the end thereof. These cam elements are aligned with the grooves 27 of drum 24, with the cam elements cooperating with the slots 29 in the plastic sheet 28. The number of switches corresponds to the number of grooves in the drum, the number of switches being determined by the number of functions which are to be controlled by this program controller.

The drum 24 is retained upon the shaft 21 by a suitable fastener clip indicated at 36.

The switches 32 may be of the limit switch type sold under the trademark Micro Switch, wherein the switches are energized or de-energized by the movement of the operating levers 34 as the latter enter the cam slots 29 during the rotation of the drum.

Thus it can be seen that since the drum shaft is supported at one end only, the cylindrical drum is cantilevered on the shaft. By supporting the shaft at one end only, the necessity for journaling two ends of a shaft is eliminated and hence one end of the shaft is free. It can be appreciated that the shaft can be made considerably longer than the drum shown in FIG. 3 of the drawings and, accordingly, drums of various sizes may be accommodated on such a shaft. The mounting of the shaft at one end only greatly facilitates the use of drums of different sizes. In operation, the program control device of the present invention functions similarly to other cylinder control devices. The cylinder rotates under the action of the electric timer motor and the slots in the cylinder covering actuate the corresponding switches by means of the cam elements and switch fingers entering thereinto. The switches are, therefore, actuated to control the several functions of the laundry machine or similar apparatus by the program as laid out on the plastic sheet surrounding the cylindrical drum.

While an important application of such a program controller device is in laundry machines, the controller may also be used for automatically operating a plurality of electrical devices in a desired predetermined sequence of operations. By way of example, solenoid switches may be actuated to control different sprays of an ornamental water fountain, or to simultaneously control various lighting circuits to illuminate the fountain and provide different decorative effects. This controlled may also be employed for many other purposes, such' as, providing sequential colored lighting effects for theaters, restaurants, display windows, or other public places, or for performing various types of operations, such as, energizing household appliances at desired times and turning oifthe appliances at other desired times. I i

It is to be understood that various details of construction and arrangement of parts can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a program control device for laundry machines, a housing, a mounting plate in said housing having an opening therein, a bushing arranged in said opening, one end of a shaft journalled within said bushing, a cylindrical drum cantileverly mounted to one side of said plate on said shaft for rotation therewith, means drivingly connected to said one end and for rotating said shaft, said drum including a plurality of disks of different diameters providing a plurality of axially spaced circumferential grooves therebetween, means circumferentially encasing said drum and having circumferentially extending cam slots in aligned relationship with said grooves, and switch means adjacent said drum and having a plurality of switch fingers extending therefrom, whereby during rotation of said drum said fingers enter said slots and said grooves and operate said switch means.

2. In a program control device as claimed in claim 1 with said mounting plate being disposed in a vertical plane.

3. In a program control device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means encasing said drum comprises a thin sheet circumferentially surrounding said drum.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,526,445 10/1950 Young ZOO-37 3,094,592 6/1963 Fisher 20038 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner.

FRED E. BELL, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R.

ZOO-37 

